


The Strength Of The Wolf

by AsagiStilinski



Series: Yoitober 2019 [4]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alpha Katsuki Yuuri, Alpha Victor Nikiforov, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Character's Name Spelled as Yuri, Drama, Hunters & Hunting, Inktober 2019, M/M, Meet-Cute, Minor Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky, Minor Violence, Pack, Pack Dynamics, Pack Politics, Protective Katsuki Yuuri, Werewolf Hunters, Werewolf Mates, Werewolf Politics, Werewolves, Wolf Pack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-24 08:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20904956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Viktor is an Alpha in need of a packYuri is part of a pack who needs someone willing to be their AlphaA marriage between the two of them sounds like the perfect solution, too bad there are other problems lurking in the distance that threaten to ruin everything they're building together





	The Strength Of The Wolf

**Author's Note:**

> For day four of Inktober- "Freeze"

Two Alphas cannot coexist together, this is a lesson that Viktor learned the hard way

Viktor had been more or less raised by his Alpha, Yakov, since he was nine-years-old

Yakov had intended for years to make Viktor the Alpha after his death, as Yakov had no children or blood relatives of his own, but at the age of twenty-six, Viktor became an Alpha through other means

Despite the fact that he hadn't seen her in fifteen years, the death of his mother still hit Viktor hard

The news wasn't delivered by telephone or a nice police officer at the door, it was through a stinging in his veins, like a full body ache combined with an itch that pulsed through his veins like blood

He had been skating at the ice rink when his crystalline blue eyes turned red for the first time, he had spun out and landed on his face

Perhaps he should have been better prepared for it, his mother had been an Alpha since he was born, after all, it was reasonable to assume that her death would deliver the blessing onto him

But he supposed he could be forgiven for not anticipating it, after she had disappeared for over a decade, the thought that she may have had other children or just found someone else to pass the lineage onto wasn't an entirely foreign one

And then there was the way she died all on it's own

Yes, there were many ways for a werewolf to die, but Viktor had personally always figured it would be another wolf who would take her out, and if that were the case, the Alpha blessing would be passed to whoever ended her life, not to her closest kin

Maybe if he had just had more time he could have prepared better...

There were alot of variables, none of them mattered in the end

The truth remained the same, that after only two months of trying to remain in his old pack, Viktor had to leave

He and Yakov just fought too often and too harshly and too _much_ to continue on like that for any longer

So he left

He used the opportunity to not only leave his pack or his territory or his city, he left his entire country behind to start over elsewhere

He was starting fresh, with a new beginning

No more Russian politics trying to tell him who to love

No more Yakov trying to tell him how to live

No more church constantly wavering between calling him an abomination or a "Wolf Of God" depending on where he went and who was preaching that Sunday

He left for the United States where he felt confident he could build a pack of his own, because an Alpha without a pack is like a mother without a child, the need to have his own, to nurture a small growing family beneath him was a constant ache in his chest that left him feeling lonely and depressed and on edge without it

He needed a pack, a strong one, because the strength of the wolf was the pack, and the strength of the pack was the wolf

It was only a month after moving to the states that Viktor met Yuri, a soft-spoken and gentle soul who had his own reasons for moving away from home involving the wolf way and pack politics

Yuri came from a small pack in Japan and the Katsukis had kept their pack's Alpha lineage for generations

He remembered vividly when his grandfather had died, when Yuri was fourteen, and his mother took on the Alpha gift, that was when Yuri's life changed forever

Unlike his grandfather, who only had one child, his mother had the option of choosing between her heirs for who should inherit the Alpha gift when she passed

She didn't want to base her decision based only on trivial matters like who had been born first or who was more successfull, she wanted to base it on who would be a better Alpha, on who would take better care of the pack

Because at the end of the day, that was always the first and foremost concern of every Alpha- taking care of the pack

And it was because of this that neither Yuri, nor his older sister Mari, actually wanted to take on the gift

Mari didn't want the responsibility; Yuri didn't want the pressure

Yuri had no confidence at all that he could properly lead or protect or care for a pack, he was desperate to avoid inheriting the gift as he fully believed that the entire pack would be dead within months in his care

So he ran away to the states and hoped his cowardice would be enough proof to his mother that he was unfit to take care of the pack, that the only choice she had was to give that power to Mari

It was terrible, he knew, and Mari didn't deserve to be thrown under the bus like that, but atleast with her the pack would be _alive_ in the end, wich was far more than he could say for his own likely disastrous attempts at being an Alpha

He wished his mother would consider allowing the gift outside of the pack, but he understood why she didn't

Technically, she could choose anyone to inherit her gift, and there were many people in the pack who would be far more suited to it than Yuri felt that he was, but...

Alphas who weren't born into the family lineage were often hesitant about keeping around the blood relatives of the former Alpha, as they worried about the potential of those relatives trying to reclaim the Alpha power

Family members of former Alphas often ended up pushed out of the pack when an unrelated Alpha took over, no matter how close their relationships may have been before, it was always a risk

By keeping the Alpha trait in their bloodline, Hiroko was protecting her children, and Yuri certainly couldn't blame her for that

After all, the only thing that Alphas cared for more than their packs were their children

Still...

Yuri was too afraid of failing as an Alpha to stick around, so he ran

It was relatively unheard of for wolves to travel far away from their packs for significant amounts of time, as the pack instincts were always so strong that they would experience terrible bouts of home sickness, loneliness, and a never-ending ache in their chests that begged for them to return home

Yuri didn't know how long he would manage to be away from home before all of that became too much for him to handle and he had no choice other than to return, before ultimately, the pack-sickness- what wolves "Affectionately" called the longing they experienced to return to their packs- peeled him away from his cowardice, but he hoped that he would last for atleast a few months, atleast long enough to make an impact

....

He hoped

It was a few months into this that he met Viktor

In the most cliche way possible, they met at a coffee shop and fell for eachother instantly

After about three weeks of shy, awkward, but extremely fun dates, Yuri found out about how Viktor came across his Alpha power, and a plan began to form

Viktor was an Alpha who needed a pack

Yuri was part of a pack who would, in the hopefully _distant_ future, need an Alpha

It felt like kismet

So after only three weeks of dating, Yuri proposed what Viktor would affectionately come to call "a journey into the insane"

_"Let's get married,"_

Sure, Viktor wouldn't be a _blood_ relative, but he'd be the next best thing and Alphas inherited powers from their in-laws on a semi-regular basis

There would hopefully be many, _many_ years for the two of them to bond properly and cement their relationship into the ground, but Hiroko was looking to choose her heir within the next year or two, for insurance- otherwise the power would go to Mari by default- so the marriage would have to be a quick one

Viktor was a good Alpha, even though he didn't have a pack yet, Yuri could see it in the way he acted, hear it in the way he spoke, he would be good for the pack and wasn't that what Yuri should be thinking of first and foremost when it came to this kind of decision?

Even if they were rushing into this and fell out of love someday, Yuri felt secure that Viktor would take care of his family

Marriage between wolves wasn't as fickle as it was between humans, divorce was rare and even when it happened the exes had a sort of bond that never quite faded, it wasn't nearly as easy to shake as an average pack bond, especially if there were children involved

Children, wich both Yuri and Viktor had an intense desire to have

It would be perfect, Yuri figured

They would get married in the states right away, start their family and have a pack of their own there, then in a matter of years would either move their pack back to Japan, or move Yuri's home pack to the states

Yes, it was dicey, but when pack mergers like this one happened it was commonplace

Wolves just couldn't stand to be away from their packs for very long, and so would prefer to move to a completely different country, picking up their work and their families to follow the Alpha

It was an ancient sort of behavior that had been bred into them centuries ago, to always follow your pack, always follow your _Alpha_, against everything else

Because numbers had always been the strongest evolutionary quality werewolves possessed, and a lone wolf was a dead wolf, and the strength of the wolf was the pack, and the strength of the pack was the wolf

It was dicey, but it would be for the better

A strong Alpha, a larger pack, bigger and better territory, fresh blood and children in a lineage where one heir was uninterested in having a family and the other was flawed so intensely that finding anyone to marry him was a miracle on it's own- atleast, that was Yuri's opinion

Viktor was a little hesitant, but even he saw the necessity of Yuri's logic, after all, why else would he agree to marry Yuri?

So three weeks after meeting, they were engaged

And two months later, Yuri's brilliant plan went to hell

"We should start looking at suburbs,"

Two months into the engagement, this was Viktor's suggestion

Yuri was quick to agree

Cities were bad places for supernaturally inclined folk to live, between being so over-populated, being away from the woods- and thus not having any good places to run or get away to nature- and being so full of constant sensory-triggers like bright lights and loud noises, it was a suffocating place to live

But worst of all, the biggest reason for why cities were hard for anyone not human to live in, was the hunting problem

Hunters were everywhere, true, but the ones in cities were much harder to deal with

There were two kinds of hunters in the world- the amateurs, and the professionals

The amatuers were the ones most likely to crop up in the suburbs, idiots who saw "something" in the woods and decide that therefore it must die, rarely any better than rednecks with rifles, but on occasion they were former victims of the supernatural themselves in some way and that sent them on a life-long mission for revenge

Still, they were clumsy, disorganized, and usually got their information from Google and old movies

They weren't exactly harmless, but they were sure as hell easier to take down than the professionals, who more often stuck to cities

Professional hunters- "professional" being a loosely used label- often grew up in the trade, trained in by their families from childhood, or on occasion actually smart enough to track down older and more experienced hunters after they themselves became amateurs

These were the truly terrifying ones, the ones that everyone needed to watch out for

They had numbers, organization, plans, and much more usefull weapons than just hunting rifles and the antique ladle their grandmother swore was pure silver

They gathered in cities because it was easier to flush out the supernatural population in cities, where incidents were so much more often reported and stress-induced mistakes were so much more often made

True, this was only a general rule, and as with all rules there were exceptions, but the supernaturally inclined had always had better luck in small towns, rural areas, and suburban neighborhoods than in the big cities

"Sounds like a plan," Yuri had noted, setting his coffee down on the kitchen table next to Viktor's

"I hear Birmingham is nice,"

And that was how it started

A perfectly pleasant start to a perfectly awfull day

Well, the day it's self had actually been rather nice, it was the evening that changed everything

Five minutes before Yuri's shift at the cafe` ended, he got a phone call from Viktor

_"I'm so sorry my love, I had a late client, could you wait for me? Just another hour, or you can take an uber or something I suppose... I'm so sorry,"_

"It's fine Viktor, really,"

Technically, they actually both had a car, but they usually car-pooled in Viktor's because Yuri's car was older and a little less reliable, plus it was more environmentally freindly and just made safe considering that they only worked fifteen minutes away from eachother

"I'd rather wait for you,"

He wasn't all that secure with the idea of ride-sharing, there were too many ways that could go wrong for someone who valued privacy and safety

"I think I'm going to do some shopping across the street, text me when you leave and I'll let you know where I am?"

There was alot to do before getting married, after all, and the more of his time that Yuri utilized wisely, the better

_"Alright, I'll do that, thank you for being so understanding Yuri,"_

"Well ofcourse, did you... really think I wouldn't be...?"

_"O-Oh, no, I suppose I just... am still getting used to how lovely you are, anyway I'll see you soon my darling, dosvedanya!!"_

"Sayonara,"

It was a cute little tradition they had accidentally started, Viktor would say "goodbye" in Russian, Yuri would say it in Japanese

It was cute, simple and maybe a little corny, but cute

After Yuri's shift was finished he headed across the street just as he said he would, starting with a small gift-shop that was only an hour away from closing and picking up a few house goods

He thought it was ironic, really

They were trying to craft the perfect apple-pie American ideal, the thing that kids in this country were taught to idealize and want when they grew up, but fit none of the standards those typical "ideals" had in mind

Neither of them were American born, neither of them were straight, neither of them were human...

Yet here Yuri was, overjoyed that a 75% off sale had afforded him the chance to get some nice china with a blue-bird print along the edges and snickering over the "Proud Father Of A Furbaby" hand-towels he had picked up, because his and Viktor's first mission upon getting the house was to get a dog to accompany it

He felt like a modern day 50s housewife and the thought honestly tickled him

With another twenty minutes to wait though, and not wanting to spend more time at the little boutique than necessary, as he was always afraid of getting startled and breaking something, he went nextdoor to the comic book shop instead

And that was where the hell started

It didn't even have the decency to start out innocent, it was bullshit from the very beginning, with Yuri quietly wondering how Viktor would feel about Superman themed book-ends and mulling over the choice to pick up a few manga books in English for Viktor, as his fiance` had been so curious about them but hadn't even begun learning to read Japanese so Yuri's own copies were virtually useless to him, when the scent of another wolf caught his attention

"Superman huh? Man I love that guy,"

Yuri bit the inside of his lip, turning around slowly to stare at the stranger

He was tall and had dark hair and exuded confidence in a way that was far more off-putting than it was charming

"You new around here? I haven't seen you around before,"

"Sort of new," Yuri replied, stepping away from the book-ends and making his way to the manga section

"Cool cool, I am too, actually, maybe we could get together sometime? Explore the city together? I mean I know I could use the help,"

Yuri turned around, a pensive and hesitant look on his face

"I'm sorry, I'm already spoken for," he noted, holding up his hand to show off his engagement ring

The stranger blinked, suddenly stepping back and holding his hands up in mock surrender

"Oh, uh, nope, no no, me too! Ha.. and I uh... I play for the other team," he replied with a quiet click of his tongue, pointing to his wedding ring

Yuri immediately soured even further, pursing his lips

If the stranger wasn't after him for a romantic relationship, then there was really only one other reason he would want anything to do with Yuri...

"I'm spoken for _that way_ too," he replied coldly as he took a step away from the manga shelf, now officially just trying to lose the guy within the small store

"Really? 'Cauuuuuseee I wouldn't know it by lookin' at ya', _or_ smellin' ya',"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know I had to wear Eau De Alpha to keep strange men off of me," Yuri snapped coldly

The stranger snorted, rolling his eyes

"Oh come on, we both know that if you go running around, smelling like an unclaimed Omega, somebody's going to notice, sooner or later,"

Yuri wipped around, his eyes cold and hard, frustration brimming under his skin

"I'm not _unclaimed_ in any manner, for your information, I belong to _two_ packs,"

"Oooh so you're one of _those_, awfully funny that you don't smell like either of them,"

"Because my home pack is back in Japan and my new one is lead by my mate,"

"Wow, you're mated to the Alpha and he hasn't claimed you yet?"

The stranger winced, making a face as he leaned up against the wall, boxing Yuri in between himself a small figurine case behind him

"We're waiting till marriage,"

"Oh, come on, now we _both_ know that _that's_ a lie, why on earth would your Alpha mate let you run around not smelling like him huh? If I were you, man, I'd be worried about that relationship, I mean my Isabella- my mate-, we didn't have sex until we got married, we're both good Christians that way, but you can bet your ass the first night my eyes glowed red, I sank my teeth into her and wouldn't let go,"

"I'm sure she found that very romantic," Yuri spat blandly

"Look," the stranger sighed

"I think we got off on the wrong foot here, I'm JJ, I lead the local pack? We're always looking to recruit, I don't blame you for being so defensive but we both know the way society works, a lone wolf is a dead wolf, and I think we all want alot less dead wolves in the world, don't you?"

He felt sick

He knew that these kinds of Alphas existed, he had just never encountered one before

He had never traveled far outside of his home territory of Hasetsu and everyone there knew who he was, now that he had been in America for a few months, the scent of home was starting to wear off of him, only the soft thrum of his mother's Alpha imprint lingering, but it was faint enough that it was ignorable, and Viktor....

JJ was right

Viktor hadn't claimed him yet because he wanted to make sure Yuri didn't change his mind later, and that claiming Yuri wouldn't be off-putting to his family, as it would mean that, until Viktor received Hiroko's blessing, Yuri would be a member of two packs, wich was.... quite frowned upon in wolf society

But Yuri was starting to think that was a bad idea

He was starting to long for the tell-tale bite just above his collarbone and the ever-lingering scent of Alpha pheromones that it would carry with it to keep the other Alphas away- his claiming mark

All betas had one, unless you were born into your pack and stayed within close range to it

Yuri was starting to regret running off so quickly and not letting his mother give him her bite...

"You have such a hard time believing that I already belong to someone?" Yuri growled, stepping up closer, into JJ's personal space- a bad move by anyone's count, a terrible one for a vulnerable Omega, even if he was only an Omega by _JJ's_ standards- and leaning up on the tips of his toes, exposing his neck- the _worst_ move he could possibly make- by pulling his shirt collar down

"_Inhale_, Viktor is all over me,"

Sometimes it took brazenness though to show that intimidation tactics would get people nowhere

"Yeah, no, I never doubted that," JJ coughed, stepping back and putting a hand over his mouth

_Good_

The scent of one Alpha would always be strong to another, like opening a bottle of spices and inhaling

It wasn't specifically an unpleasant scent, it was just strong enough to make their eyes burn and be off-putting

And Viktor may not have bitten him, but he had claimed Yuri in _plenty_ of other ways that would be more apparent with Yuri's closer proximity to the 

"Look, I'm not calling you a liar, I'm not saying I doubt you have a boyfreind or even that I doubt he's an Alpha, trust me, I get it, but for him to have not claimed you yet should be concerning, if I were you, I'd be pretty hesitant about someone like that, you may want to reconsider your loyalty, is all I'm saying, and I'm not even asking you to ditch him or anything either, I'd be more than happy to take you _both_ on, as long as he's willing to submit to me ofcourse, I mean hell, he wouldn't be the first Alpha I've taken under my generous wing,"

Finally managing to side-step him, Yuri grit his teeth, his eyes narrowing as he hurriedly ducked away

"Thanks but no thanks, we'll be just fine," he replied as quickly as he could, rushing out of the comic book store and cursing under his breath

Viktor should be there any second, he'd be able to fix this

The problem was, JJ hadn't come alone, and after only a moment of waiting outside, the other wolf made that known...

He was dark-haired and wore far too much make up, he kept going on and on about some woman named "Anya" and saying that if he didn't help JJ recruit new members then he would never help the mystery man "get Anya back"

He tackled Yuri to the ground, and Yuri saw his eyes flash red

"I'm part of JJ's pack now but I'm still an Alpha, my bite is as good as his," he said, seemingly to himself as his teeth grew longer and he pressed Yuri harder into the ground

And Yuri felt panicked

He felt panicked because he knew exactly what was coming

This bastard was going to try to make Yuri part of JJ's pack against his will, and if he succeeded....

If he succeeded then Yuri would never be able to be part of Viktor's or anyone else's

With panic as his driving force, he kicked hard, hard enough to send the stranger backwards as he suddenly allowed his own features to shift, his claws and fangs coming out and his eyes glowing gold as he sprung forward and immediately slashed the throat of his attacker

Yuri realized his mistake the moment the adrenaline began to wind down

Not only had he killed someone in JJ's pack, wich meant that JJ would almost certainly be after his head now, but even worse, he had killed an _Alpha_, wich meant.....

Yuri could _feel_ his eyes turning from gold to red as the power transferred to his body, a scream sitting on his tongue, only avoided by the _harshest_ of Yuri's self-control, keeping it at bay, for his own good...

Panic rising anew, he ran into the woods, and left the body in the parkinglot

~+~

That was where Viktor ended up finding him, fifteen minutes later, in the woods, covered in blood, sobbing and trying to cover his red eyes

And so, they came to an impasse

Yuri wouldn't need Viktor anymore, now that he was an Alpha anyway, it would only make sense for Hiroko to someday pass her power onto him

And, even worse, Viktor knew from experience that two Alphas together could never work out, he had learned that the hard way

If he had found it so unlivable to share a pack with the man who raised him just because they were both Alphas, how could he ever share one with a man he had only known for a couple of months?

And yet....

Yet, as he drove them home, with Yuri still sobbing in the passenger's side and begging over and over again for Viktor not to leave him....

Viktor couldn't feel anything but the intense pain of wanting to reach out and hug him but being unable to, getting them home was more important, he had to keep driving

And as he climbed into the shower with Yuri and help him wash the blood off, all he could feel was the intense desire to wrap his arms around his fiance` and hug him and hold him and tell him that everything would be ok, to kiss away the pain until all that was left was the same happy person who he had fallen in love with

And as Yuri finally fell asleep that night, so exhausted from the stress and the crying and the worry, and Viktor held him in his sleep, he could feel nothing but an overwelming desire to protect him and keep him safe from everything that could ever hurt him

These were not the feelings of one Alpha competing against another, he decided

They were the feelings of a man in love wanting to care for his mate

And maybe those two things would conflict some day, maybe... maybe he would end up losing Yuri the way he lost Yakov

But he closed his eyes that night, and he exhaled, and he decided that against all odds, he would try his best not to let that happen

For Yuri's sake

For his sake

For the sake of the pack

Because the strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf

~+~

Three weeks after Yuri's eyes turned red, the wolves found themselves at Comic Con

It had been something they'd both planned individually before even meeting eachother and the fact that they each had a ticket was a happy coincidence- or, in Viktor's opinion, another sure sign of kismet

As it turned out, the world hadn't ended when Yuri became an Alpha after all

They had taken a small break from their moving plans and their desire to seek out other wolves and potential pack members, people who may be deserving of the bite, focusing instead on wedding plans during the last few weeks to give Yuri more time to become acclimated to his new power, and much to both their releifs, he seemed to be a natural at it

Viktor still had to teach him a few things, but they were only a matter of months apart from the "age" of their powers so there wasn't alot that Viktor knew that Yuri hadn't picked up on instinctively

Comic Con was proving to be a much needed break from their regular lives, a time when they could forget about all of the stressfull things going on and focus on fun instead, even though with it's size and popularity it was basically hell on earth for werewolves, they had both taken ear-plugs with them to keep from the noise getting to be too overwelming and stuck close, touching constantly, always spreading their scent across eachother to keep from the people becoming too much

It was good

It was _great_

Until the last day

"I don't know, I'm still not convinced we've seen the end of the Gargoyle King, very little of that entire reveal made sense to me,"

"_Moya luna_, it's a soapy teen drama, I'm not sure it's supposed to make sense," Viktor laughed as he wrapped his arm around Yuri

"Yeah but still..."

Squeezing a little, bringing Yuri a little closer as he glanced over his shoulder, he leaned down to gently nip at his lover's ear

"Don't look now, _luna_, but there's someone behind us who I think has been following us since yesterday,"

Yuri tensed in Viktor's grasp, much to the other wolf's displeasure

"Why are you only telling me this now?"

"I only noticed last night right before we went back to our room, I'd hoped he would have been gone by today, after all, this place is massive, what are the odds he would be able to find us today too?"

"Unless he was extremely adept at following people..."

"Exactly,"

"Hunter?"

"I'm thinking,"

"But how would he know...?"

"Probably knows of us somehow from Detroit and thought this would be an easy place to hunt us down, like shooting fish in a barrel,"

That would make sense, with Comic Con being so huge, their senses were constantly overwelmed, wich meant that most of the tells alerting them to hunters were dull and useless now, and with there being so many people, the opportunity to shift in order to fight back was also exceedingly low

Mostly, it was just the best place to have their drinks spiked or to touch something that was poisoned, nock them down enough for the hunter to drag off so he could finish the job elsewhere...

".... JJ?"

"Maybe,"

It was an incredibly cruel and underhanded move, but it wasn't entirely unusual for supernaturals to tip off hunters against their enemies, even though it was dishonorable and cowardly

JJ hadn't exactly seemed like the most honorable person though, so it tracked....

"What do we do now?"

"Well for one thing we should probably get out of these costumes, I don't know if he knows what we look like underneath but we've worn them every day of the weekend so changing out of them might be a good place to start,"

"Agreed,"

With that, they attempted to lose themselves in the crowd, then went to the first clothing booth they could find and bought a couple of t-shirts and printed skirts

Once that was accomplished they hurried into the nearest men's room and changed as quickly as they could, out of their Batman and Superman costumes and into street clothes, praying that it would be enough to throw off their pursuer for atleast a little wile

And it worked

....

For a little wile

It worked long enough for them to get to the parking garage and get in the car

It worked long enough to pull out of the location and mutually decide that going back to the hotel was a bad idea

It worked long enough for them to get about fifteen minutes down the road....

Before they started noticing the sleek black car following them

~+~

They couldn't drive forever, they knew that

Even with a full tank of gas, there was only so far they could go, and as soon as they stopped, they would be in danger

Even if they went to a public place like a shopping center or a restaurant, the risk of being snatched away or even murdered in broad daylight was far too high

They needed a plan

And as the gas gauge started to slowly tick towards "E", Yuri came up with one

"We'll switch cars," he said suddenly

"There's a high-way not far from here, we'll get on it, weave through traffic, and pull into the mall on 55, we'll park on the east side and run in, then get our uber driver to park on the west side, go straight to them, if we can just get a five minute head start, we'll be fine, we'll cross state lines after that and that should be enough to lose them, if not.... well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it,"

It sounded like a pretty solid plan, and once they lost the hunter the first time, it would be unlikely they'd run into him back home

Sure, they'd have to deal with whoever and however the hunter found them in the first place, but after carefull consideration, he reasoned that i JJ really had hired the guy, then for him to strike at Comic Con, he- and JJ- must not know where he and Viktor lived

It was a good thing they were going to be moving soon, they could really use the extra security

At the moment they were driving down an otherwise empty road in the desert, once they got on the highway, it would be far easier to get lost in traffic

They just hoped the fuel would lost that long

About ten minutes after Yuri announced his plan, however, it became increasingly obvious that it wouldn't

"Yuri... I don't think we're going to make it to the mall..."

Yuri cursed under his breath, his hands tightening on the steering weel

"You're right.... ok, new plan, we're going to make a run for it, I'll speed up abruptly and swirve into the desert, we'll leap out and run, it'll give us enough of a head start to get us to the nearest sign of humanity where we can hopefully hide out and call an uber,"

"Ok Yuri, I trust you," Viktor agreed with a nod, wasting no time in reaching into the glove compartment of the car and grabbing the spare cinch bag they kept there, starting to undress

If they were going to be around humanity, after all, they'd need to have clothes, they couldn't just show up places naked- a lesson some wolves had to learn the hard way

Once finished, Viktor helped Yuri undress as much as he could from the driver's seat, and with a little bit of hassle, they both finally managed to get their clothes off, Viktor setting his phone at the top of the bag so they could call an uber first thing, before strapping the bag on and giving Yuri a nod

"Ready?"

"Ready,"

"Alright then, when I say 'now', you have to swear to me that you'll jump out as fast as you can and start running ok? No delays, no second thoughts, swear?"

"I swear,"

"Good,"

With that, Yuri started to speed up

He went about it quickly, not wanting to give the hunter any warning, and when he felt there was good enough distance between them....

"NOW!!"

As promised, Viktor shoved the door open and jumped out, shifting immediately into a beautifull grey wolf the minute he was out of the car, and as soon as he started to run, Yuri took his chance, turning the car around suddenly and speeding full force towards the other driver

It only took seconds before they collided in a horrible crash

Yuri made a mental note that he would have to come up with a good excuse for the insurance company about this, but after that, there was the pain

Yuri panted and tried to force himself out of the car, he tried to force himself to suck it up and climb out, and for the most part he succeeded

He managed to get as far as sliding out of the car through the broken window, but that was where his plan swirved

"YURI!!!'

Shit....

Viktor had shifted back at some point, he was now at the car trying to help Yuri out- literally

"Viktor... I told you to keep running! What are you doing here!?"

"Saving your life, obviously!" Viktor huffed back

But just as he was helping Yuri out of the car, before they could shift and run as they had planned, the sound of a gun cocking caught their attention, along with one single word

"_Freeze_,"

....

Shit.....

"You two aren't going anywhere," the hunter sneered

Yuri could see him past Viktor, who was turned in the opposite direction, and narrowed his eyes menacingly

"Did you really think that little stunt would be enough to kill me?" he huffed, though it was obvious that, wile non-lethal, the crash had done plenty of damage, as he was currently hanging out the shattered window of the car, his pistol pointed at the two of them

"Well, a gay could help," Viktor noted

"Don't you mean 'guy'?"

"No," Viktor snorted back

Yuri didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry

Brave Viktor, always the smartass, always having to get the last word....

"Listen, _mutts_, I have a proposition for you, come quietly and give me all of the information on where the rest of your pack is, and I'll kick you both quickly and as painlessly as possible...... but if you refuse and try to give me trouble, I'll just kill one of you here and now, and take the other back to torture, but keep alive, just barely for... oh, I don't know, a year? Just to make sure the maximum pain of losing your mate is instilled in you,"

Yuri gritted his teeth, turning to look at Viktor with a twisted, devastated expression

"If we go down, we go down fighting," Viktor said quietly

Yuri nodded- agreed

"If we go down, we go down together," he promised in return

"Ah... the cavalry is coming!" the hunter chuckled sickeningly, and much to the displeasure of the wolves, he was right

Another, similar black car was coming their way now, no doubt the back up that professional hunters like this one were so notorious for having, and Yuri knew that their moments, their breaths, were critically numbered

"I'll give you until the count of three to surrender," the hunter called

"One,"

Yuri inhaled

"Two,"

He exhaled

"Three,"

***BANG!!!***

Yuri waited....

There was no pain

There was no blood on his face....

Viktor exhaled, and then Yuri exhaled, and they were both _alive_ and uninjured and....

It took a moment, but finally they turned to look in the direction of the sound, seeing that the hunter was now dead on the ground and the person hanging out the window of the other car was a small blonde with green eyes-....

_"Yuri?!"_

~+~

As it turns out, Yuri Plisetsky, one of Viktor's former packmates, had come all the way from Russia with his boyfreind to chew Viktor out over not calling them to announce his engagement, and letting them find out about his wedding through the invitation instead

But without knowing where Viktor lived, they had instead tracked him down through Instagram to Comic Con, intent to confront him there about it, when they had gotten there and discovered Viktor's _other_ follower, however, they had decided to wait around, make sure that when back-up inevitably arrived they took care of it, and then tracked the guy's phone with one of the other hunters' devices to arrive there as their _own_ backup

"There's one thing I don't understand though," Viktor noted, leaning back as Otabek, Yuri's boyfreind, drove back to the hotel with the other wolves in tow

"How did you get tickets to Comic Con so quickly?"

"Really? That's your big question?" Yuri huffed irritably, rolling his eyes at his former packmate

"We scalped them ok? Next,"

"Why.... do you care?" Viktor asked quietly

"I'm not part of the pack anymore so what does it matter to you guys or Yakov or anyone else where I am or what I do?"

"Jeez, do I really have to spell it out to you? Just because you're not physically with us anymore that doesn't mean you're not family, damn Viktor, what's wrong with you?"

Viktor felt touched, his heart beating with joy as he listened to his packmate's sentiment

"R-Really? And Yakov feels this way too?"

"Especially Yakov, in fact... he still wants you to inherit his power when he dies, he wants this 'pack merger' shit to really be a thing, so he sent Beka and I here to stay with you guys for a wile and make sure you and your fiance` aren't _total_ fuck-ups,"

"Really!?" Viktor gasped in excitement

"Yeah, but don't get too excited, I'm here to judge you, remember? Not hold your hand through every little step,"

And so it went

The weird little pack starting to form together after an even weirder way of falling into place with eachother to begin with

Yuri and Viktor kept their original wedding date, seeing no need to move it back, and moved into a house in the suburbs barely two months later, with Otabek and the other Yuri going along with them

Within a few months they had started their own pack, a blend of Omega wolves in need of a new Alpha and humans who they had deemed worthy of and in need of getting the bite for one reason or another

And Viktor learned something else-

He learned that there were really no hard and fast laws to relationships, no matter what genetics had to do with it

Alphas can co-exist together, if they work hard enough to let themselves

At the end of the day it's all about what's best for the pack- the pack that, as an Alpha, you love with all your heart and soul, that you could never let go of, never sacrifice for anything, even if that pack is just one other person, just... your one person

That's enough

They're enough

Because the strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf


End file.
